This invention pertains specifically to prefabricated and otherwise cladded metal door frames and mullions, using extrusions as cladding over frame substrate elements.
When installing a door frame into a door opening in a building, it is desirable to have a strong, durable frame which is either prefabricated or easily assembled on the construction site. Preferably, the frame can be assembled at an off-site manufacturing location. In the alternative, it is desirable to have frame elements which are easily assembled at the construction site.
In a typical construction project involving doors, door frames or mullions are fabricated by a frame or mullion fabricator, and shipped to a door assembler. The door assembler receives the frames and/or mullions as fabricated, and assembles e.g. the frames to respective door slabs. The slabs are also commonly purchased separately, from slab manufacturers. The door assembler adds the desired glass inset, if any, to the door slab, assembles the door slab to a selected door frame, and ships the thus assembled door, including frame and slab, to the construction site for installation on the building.
Typically, the basic frame is wood. The door assembler can easily up-grade the quality and value of the frame, and thus the quality and value of the door assembly, by installing cladding to the left, right, and top frame substrate members, thus to provide maintenance free, tough, and durable exterior surfaces to the frame.
In one set of known clad structures, a single extrusion is mounted to the substrate, providing covering on both the side surface of the substrate and over the outer surface of the substrate. Such extrusion typically provides interface structure on opposing surfaces of the substrate, whereby each extrusion is limited to the size of substrate with which such extrusion can be used.
In the alternative, a jamb plate cover is provided along a side surface of the substrate, but does not extend over the outer surface of the substrate. A separate nosing grips the jamb plate on a first surface of the substrate and grips the opposing surface of the substrate.
In an improvement in versatility of the cladding, over such structures, it is known to provide a jamb plate which has a main side panel which covers the side surface of the substrate and an outer panel which extends over the outer surface of the substrate. A nosing, such as in a brick mold profile or a window trim profile, is mounted to, and extends over, the outer panel of the jamb plate. The outer edge of the outer panel is coincident with the distal side of the nosing. The outer panel of the jamb plate is used to mount the cladding, and thus the door frame, to framing members of the building, by e.g. screws or other fasteners extending through the outer panel of the jamb plate. Accordingly, the nosing cannot be mounted on the jamb plate while the door frame is being mounted to the building.
Such configuration requires that the nosing be assembled to the jamb plate after the door frame is inserted into the rough opening and mounted to the building. By corollary, the nosing can be shipped to the construction site assembled to the jamb plates, whereupon the nosing must be disassembled from the jamb plates before the door frame can be installed on the building, and then reassembled to the door frame after the door frame has been installed. While such process provides for shipping of the nosing in an assembled configuration, disassembly at the construction site is required.
In an alternative process, the door frame is shipped to the job site without the nosing assembled to the frame. The nosing is shipped separately, though typically in the same shipment. This process saves the disassembly step at the construction site. However, the separate shipment of the nosing bears a risk of the nosing being mishandled, separated from the door frame, and lost, whereupon the installation job can be completed only by shipping an additional nosing to the job site. Another risk inherent in the above process is that a different style nosing will be shipped with the door frame, or that a different style nosing will be shipped as a replacement.
Thus, it is an object of the invention to provide a cladded door frame, including a jamb cover assembly on respective frame substrates, wherein the jamb cover assembly includes a jamb plate, a nosing, and a nailing fin, and wherein the nailing fin is so positioned with respect to the nosing that the door frame can be mounted and secured in a rough opening of a building while the jamb cover assembly is fully assembled to the respective frame substrates.
It is another objective to provide an elongate jamb plate wherein an outer panel, which overlies the outer surface of the respective jamb substrate, and which bears mounting structure for receiving a nosing thereon, is devoid of structure, outwardly of the mounting structure, for mounting the jamb plate to a framing member of a building to which the frame is to be mounted.
It is another object to provide a nosing for mounting on a jamb plate, wherein a nailing fin kerf is disposed on the nosing proximate a distal side of the nosing.
It is another object of the invention to provide, in combination, a jamb plate cooperating with a nosing wherein a mounting fin kerf is disposed in a region from proximate a distal side of the nosing to proximate a mounting structure on the jamb plate mounting the nosing and the jamb plate to each other.
Yet another object is to provide a pre-assembled door frame wherein a jamb cover assembly, comprising a jamb plate and a nosing, is mounted to one or more jamb substrates wherein a mounting fin extends outwardly beyond a distal side of the nosing thereby to enable mounting the jamb cover assembly to a framing member of a building while the nosing is mounted to the jamb plate.
Mullions can be up-graded in much the same manner of adding cladding to mullion substrates.
Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to provide a cladded mullion assembly wherein a mullion nosing is mounted to both first and second jamb plates, the jamb plates being mounted on opposing sides of the mullion substrate, and extending over the outer surface of the mullion substrate, and wherein the nosing is mounted to both of the jamb plates proximate the outer surface of the mullion substrate and thus bridges the jamb plates while covering the entire outer surface of the mullion substrate.
Still another objective is to provide a method of installing a door frame in a door opening in a building, including assembling the door frame assembly at an off-site location, transporting the door frame to the building site, and installing the frame in the building, including securing the mounting fin to building framing members while a respective nosing is installed on a respective jamb plate.